The Tenth Circle Book Summary and Study Guide

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of The Tenth Circle

Trixie Stone wasn't happy when Jason broke up with her. Setting out to get him back had consequences she hadn't considered, however. Rape was not something she could have forseen happening to her, by the boy she had loved for some time. A fifteen-year-old with little awareness of the power of love, jealousy, wanting and needing to be Jason's girl drove her to take risks one night.
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The results of that night of risks were rape, ostracism, unleashing the barely hidden fury of her father - a former Alaskan Upek who once was accused of killing his best friend - and the eventual death of Jason. Did Jason commit suicide, as it initially appears? Did Daniel Stone push him off a bridge in anger over the rape of his daughter? Did Trixie take her own personal revenge on Jason?

This intensely written novel explores the psyche of a teenage girl, her deranged father - angry about the violation of his daughter and the affair his wife has been having with one of her college students, the wife's remorse and attempts to put her marriage back together and be there for the daughter who so desperately needs her.

The review of this Book prepared by Kathy Nielsen

Daniel Stone is a comic book artist and stay-at-home dad. He's struggling with the separation issues that are a normal part of of seeing his daughter Trixie age 14 growing up. His wife is a college professor. He is not aware at the beginning of the story that she is engaged in an affair with a student.

Their lives change forever when Trixie comes home from what her father thought was a sleepover at her best friend's to say she was raped. At the hospital he finds out that the sleepover was in fact a wild party involving sex games, and the use of alcohol. The accused rapist was a boy, a star hockey player, that just broke up with Trixie. Trixie heartbroken at the break up, took her best friend's advice to try to make him jealous with other boys at this party. This strategy quickly spun out of control leading to the traumatic turning point of the story.

Because of her behavior at the party, Trixie's story is doubted by the police, her peers, and the community. Daniel struggles to take care of his traumatized child while coping with his own anger issues stemming from an isolated and angry childhood and adolescence as the only white child in an Alaskan village. This novel is also a mystery as the actual events of the night of the party and its aftermath are revealed. Paired with the text are comic book graphics representing Daniel's experience through his own art.

The review of this Book prepared by Susan Coffey

Chapter Analysis of The Tenth Circle

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Plot & Themes

Time/era of story - 2000+ (Present Day)
Internal struggle/realization? - YesStruggle over - rapeIs this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book